Ernest R. Davidson

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Ernest Roy Davidson (born October 12, 1936 in Terre Haute , Indiana ) is an American chemist ( quantum chemistry ).

Life

Davidson studied at the Rose Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor's degree in 1958 and received his PhD in quantum chemistry from Indiana University under Harrison Shull ( The first excited singlet SIGMA g + state of the hydrogen molecule ) in 1961 . As a post-doctoral student he was with Joseph O. Hirschfelder at the University of Wisconsin-Madison . In 1962 he became an assistant professor and later professor at the University of Washington . In 1984 he became professor of chemistry at Indiana University.

He deals with quantum chemistry of small molecules. His algorithmic developments include an efficient method for calculating Gaussian basis functions in Cartesian coordinates, the iterative natural orbital method and the Davidson method for determining eigenvalues ​​and eigenfunctions of large matrices. He was a pioneer in the precise description of spin and momentum distributions and diradicals and contributed to the understanding of reduced density matrices. The Davidson Correction for energy (influence of higher excitations when the configuration space is cut off) and the Davidson diagonalization are named after him in the Configuration Interaction Method.

In 1967 he was a Sloan Research Fellow and in 1974 a Guggenheim Fellow. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society , the International Academy of Quantum Molecular Science , the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1985), the National Academy of Sciences (1987), and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1996). He holds honorary doctorates from Uppsala and the Rose-Human Institute of Technology and received the American Chemical Society Award in Theoretical Chemistry , the ACS Award for Computers in Chemical and Pharmaceutical Research, and the Joseph O. Hirschfelder Prize . In 2001 he received the National Medal of Science .

He married Reba Minnich in 1956 and they have four children.

Publications (selection)

  • Correlation splitting in the hydrogen molecule , Ft. Belvoir Defense Technical Information Center, 1962
  • Reduced Density Matrices in Quantum Chemistry , Academic Press, 1976
  • Theoretical chemistry , Washington, DC, 1991
  • Modern electronic structure theory and applications in organic chemistry , New Jersey: World Scientific, 1997

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Biographical data, publications and academic family tree of Ernest R. Davidson at academictree.org, accessed on January 29, 2018.
  2. ↑ Career data based on American Men and Women of Science , Thomson Gale 2004.
personal data
SURNAME Davidson, Ernest R.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Davidson, Ernest Roy (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American chemist (quantum chemistry)
DATE OF BIRTH October 12, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Terre Haute , Indiana